Nobel Women's Initiative

Change for Equality has called on its international partners to use the month of March as a time to highlight the efforts of Iranian women to create a more equal and just society. The One Million Signatures Campaign is one of the most prominent tools of the women's rights movement in Iran. The One Million Signatures Campaign works to end the discriminatory laws in Iran against women.

Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi,  Jody Williams and Thin Thin Aung of the Women's League of Burma met yesterday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to deliver the findings and recommendations of the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women in Burma, held earlier this week in New York. Thin Thin asked his support in pushing the UN Security Council to implement its own resolutions on violence against women.

The Tibet Fund will present a special Thank You Tibet! program with Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams and Shirin Ebadi and co-hosts Ann Curry and Michael Imperioli on March 4th, 2010. This landmark program will honor His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people for their steadfast commitment to nonviolence as a path to peace and for safeguarding and sharing their unique culture with our global community.

View the archived webcast.

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Read some of the stories of the women who are testifying at the tribunal.

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Eleven Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, including: Shirin Ebadi, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Wangari Maathai and Jody Williams have sent an open letter to President Calderon demanding justice for the people of Atenco. On May 3-4, 2006, more than four thousand state security and police attacked at least two hundred people in Atenco during a protest. The Laureates are asking the President to release the 12 political prisoners still held, and drop all charges against them. The Laureates are calling for justice for the 50 women of Atenco who were raped and tortured during the attack.

Mairead Maguire and Jody Williams participated in a blockade of Aldermaston Weapons Establishment (AWE) in the UK on February 15.  All 8 gates allowing access for staff and materials were blocked for 3 hours, stopping work and raising awareness of the illegality of the work performed inside AWE.  The blockade called for the UK to stop the expansion of AWE and the development of a new generation of nuclear weapons.

To mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Shirin Ebadi is calling upon the international community to help end the political crisis and mounting repression in Iran. In an open letter to the Honourable Madam Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) she outlines the mounting human rights abuses and calls for immediate action by the UN.

The people of Iran are continuing to resist and insist on the realization of their just demands for democracy and human rights by demonstrating their political maturity through peaceful protests. -- Shirin Ebadi

Evo Morales opened his second term as President of Bolivia by appointing a cabinet comprised of 10 men and 10 women.

The unprecedented commitment to gender parity was warmly welcomed by women’s groups and activists across the country. Their support played an integral role in the socialist president’s rise to power.